Iyinoluwa Aboyeji calls on investors to join the Future Africa fund. Future Africa is a platform that provides capital, coaching, and community for mission-driven innovators building an African Future where purpose and prosperity are within everyone's reach.

He launched the Future Africa platform earlier this year alongside Olabinjo Adeniran and Adenike Sheriff.

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji also cofounded two of Africa's best performing tech startups - Andela and Flutterwave. He believes Future Africa can partner with innovators to turn the continent's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities.

The major plan of the initiative is early-stage funding that aimed to back up to 20 founders with up to $50,000 of capital each year. Yet with the COVID-19 outbreak and the associated global crisis, Future Africa has adjusted its plans somewhat and is seeking co-investors.

“Before the crisis hit we thought about playing the traditional venture capital game. Hire our own grey-haired investment banker who knows the limited partners. Raise a big fund and sit easily on a pile of fees as we hand over our hard-won judgment and experience to bureaucracy and investment committees far from the madness we are innovating in. We too wanted to settle,” Future Africa said.

“But when the crisis hit, we naturally dove into action supporting our portfolio companies to respond appropriately. As we watched the traditional venture capitalists entrusted with the responsibility of funding the innovators that will get us through this crisis drop the ball on one innovator after another on account of scared Limited Partners and restrictive investment committees, we knew that couldn’t be us. So we decided to focus our energy on innovating a new way to fund innovators through this pivotal moment of crisis and opportunity.”

The organization has launched the Future Africa Collective, which it says is a “people-powered innovation fund” that allows qualified investors to co-invest with Future Africa on a deal-by-deal basis through investment syndicates.

“While we source and run diligence on innovators, the entire process for each deal is managed on your behalf by a globally renowned and trusted institutional fund partner based in the US.

In exchange for your capital, an annual subscription fee and a reasonable carry for the Future Africa team, you receive an opportunity to invest in groundbreaking innovators building the future today,” Future Africa said.

“We need you, our community, to partner with us as we fund the next Andelas and Flutterwaves through this health and economic crisis. Like you, we believe that especially as far as Africa is concerned, capital is not just a tool for creating and preserving wealth, it is also a weapon of innovation and revolution.”